We know not what we do
by GeologistsRock
Summary: On her way home from work, Regina stumbles upon a newborn girl. The child, greens eyes and a soft tuff of blonde hair, was left under a shrub inside a rubbish bag. Who is this child, and how did she get to Storybrooke?
1. Chapter 1

" … Fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty –", out of complete silence a hoarse cry arose. Halting mid-step, Regina glances around the street. Vacant – the world is quiet under the cool darkness of the summer night. The silence gnaws at her insides, like a gaping void, poisonous in its nothingness. She shakes her head and continues. "Fifty-six, fifty –", another cry, a soft mewling of distress. "Sounds like a baby," she mumbles carefully studying her surroundings, eyebrows lowered into a frown. The world was quiet once more, the silence eerily unnatural, like a dawn devoid of birdsong.

Having lost count of her steps, the delicate-featured brunette moves into the middle of the deserted road. Her chestnut eyes travel over the empty sidewalks, observe the quiet front of sleepy houses, and linger near the forest edge. Suddenly, she hears snuffling under a bush on the cusp of the dense forest trees. Stepping closer, she sees a black rubbish bag rustling under the shrub. A tiny hand pushes against the plastic.

Regina feels a wave of cold shock, and carefully peels back the plastic. It's a newborn girl, naked with the umbilical cord thick and dangling and her soft tuff of blonde hair slick with birth matter. The baby opens her mouth to cry but all her dry throat can manage is a weak mewling. Her legs kick in tiny jagged motion and her face is pink-hued from exertion. Regina holds her close, a hand beneath the wobbling head as the newborn peers through brand new eyes at what must be such a strange and terrifying world, after living in the comfort of her mother's belly.

The infant is startlingly cool to the touch. The mayor's heart breaks open as she thinks of her own daughter, Lily, warm at home with her other parent. This new person had filled her up with such love that she couldn't phantom ever abandoning her child. Straightening from a crouch, the woman unbuttons her blouse and presses the newborn against her skin. And begins to run.

XXX

Maleficent quietly sings to herself as she scraps tonight's leftovers into the compost bin, before expertly stacking them in the dishwasher. "Thunder only happens when it's raining. Players only love you when they're playing … When the rain washes you clean, you'll know, you'll know." It had been a busy week at the mayory, and Mal was very much looking forward to a quiet weekend with her spouse and their little hatchling. At the tender age of 24 days, baby Lily's teeth had just started to pierce the gum. Her ornery cries now a frequent backdrop in the everyday home life of the Mills family.

After wiping down the counters, Mal makes her way to the living room. Leaning against the doorjamb, she observes her little troublemaker with a raised eyebrow and a fond smile. Little Lily's snout was low to the ground, her two upper canines (her only teeth to date …) exposed as she growled at a tired looking plush mouse. Quickly, she swipes her tiny paw and sends her victim skidding across the hardwood floor, past her mother and into the hallway. Grunting, she clumsily makes her way towards her toy.

"My little bird, you are getting so good at stalking prey!" Mal exclaims in a warm and happy voice as she picks up and softly cradles her daughter. "Mama is so proud of you, my darling!" Lily's wide jellyfish-blue eyes stare up at her mother, the hunt forgotten, as she gently rubs the warm baby scales on top of her head.

"It's time for bed, bubbles. Let's get you settled in, and when mommy gets home she'll come give you a kiss goodnight" Maleficent says making her way up the stairs, as the little dragon lies her head against her mother's chest, listening to its soothing beating.

Suddenly, a series of insistent knocks at the front door. "Looks like mommy's home early, just in time for stories," she tells her daughter. "Did Regina forget her key again?" she thinks to herself with a smile. For someone as organized and methodical, her wife was surprisingly forgetful about the littlest things. Keys. Purse. Glasses.

"Hey babe, did you forget –" The blonde stops mid-sentence and stares gapingly at her spouse. Pressed to her bare chest was a naked infant.

"I don't know what to do! I was walking home and I found this little thing under a bush near the forest. Who would do that, throw away a newborn like yesterday's trash?!" The mulatto woman says in a shaky tone, as she bustles her way past Mal.

Shutting the door, the mother dragon follows the flustered mayor into the kitchen.


	2. The Big Unknown

**AN/This is a short one. I apologize for the teasing... I seem to have misplaced my muse.  
Also, if there are any glaring grammatical errors, please let me know! Canadian French is my native tongue, so I'm sure the phrasing is sometimes odd xD  
Cheers xox**

"How tiny new humans are, how vulnerable, how awe inspiring," Maleficent ponders as she raises the baby's bottom off the diaper by gently grasping the crossed ankles and lifting. Partial to the umbilical stump and surrounding skin, she diligently wipes front to back before patting the infant dry. "What a keen sense of fashion! I approve," Mal says to the little girl as she fastens today's outfit: a soft blue jumpsuit. The suckling's eyes are wide open and bright as she focuses intently on her caregiver's gentle contralto.

Placing the baby in an upright position, Mal continues: "All belly and head, with your arms barely extending past your crown, why do I find you so cute? Yes, you are adorable. I could just eat you up!" she says gleefully. The nursling moves her little legs excitably in a circular manner, as if riding a bicycle. Her lips purse as if to say "ooh" – a little tongue peeking out. A pudgy index actively makes its way up to be suckled.

"Let's go say 'good morning' to Lily, my little chimp," the dragon says as she rests the bundle on her chest, lifting the head to her shoulder, a supporting hand under the baby's bottom and the other on the neck. She descends the stairs, nuzzling the soft tuft of feathery blonde hair and breathing in the sweetness of the newborn's skin.

Entering the living room, Mal spots her wife ungracefully splayed across the L shaped couch. Their little dragonling is curled up with Mickey – faithful rodent companion – on a plush pillow under a sunny window.

"Regina, darling it's time to wake up."


	3. Summer

**AN/ Thanks for the great support!  
****Also, I apologize. I didn't know mulatto was an offensive and outdated term.  
This is also a short chapter. I can't seem to write more than 500 words... The time line is a bit fuzzy.**

**Cheers xox**

It was a beetle, fat and lazy under the brilliant stretch of blue sky, flitting from flower to flower before settling itself comfortably on a white clover. Lily's large curious eyes – bluer than glacier meltwater and full of pure tempered energy – watch closely as the insect sunbathed, its' crunchy armor plating shining a brilliant bronze. She narrowed her pupils into predatory slits, tail right up in the air and her head held like the born ruler of the universe. Tensing her hind legs, she leaps with the pounce of a tiger, confident and powerful. Sadly, it was not to be. The sluggish beetle, sensing change in the air, whizzes away annoyed.

Ordinarily an independent and proud dragon, Lily often felt like a little hatchling trying on mama's shoes when she failed a hunt. Upset and dejected, she hisses at the retreating beetle, and then mews with the newness of a newborn baby, soft yet high pitched. The infant curls up tiredly in the warm grass, shielding her eyes from the aggressive sun behind her tail. Grasshoppers click in the dry summer air as birds wheeled in slow lazy arcs high in the sky.

Maleficent makes her way through the green grass as it waves and rustles in the breeze. Her cotton knee-length summer dress billows in the puffs of wind. Approaching her daughter, the mother dragon starts to hum sweet nothings. Picking up the infant, she kisses the little snout before lying the little dragon across her chest. Lily snuffles, accepting the kiss, before burying her head into the crook of her mother's neck.

"I'll be right back. Someone is in need of an afternoon nap," she says stepping onto the patio, while rubbing the little back in soothing circles.


End file.
